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. 2023 Oct 19:14:1250787.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1250787. eCollection 2023.

Pathological and virological insights from an outbreak of European brown hare syndrome in the Italian hare (Lepus corsicanus)

Mariagiovanna Domanico  1 , Patrizia Cavadini  2 , Roberto Nardini  1 , Daniele Cecca  3 , Giovanni Mastrandrea  3 , Claudia Eleni  1 , Valentina Galietta  1 , Lorenzo Attili  1 , Antonella Pizzarelli  1 , Roberta Onorati  1 , Cristina Amoruso  1 , Donatella Stilli  1 , Giulia Pacchiarotti  1 , Francesca Merzoni  2 , Andrea Caprioli  1 , Ida Ricci  1 , Antonio Battisti  1 , Antonio Lavazza  2 , Maria Teresa Scicluna  1
Affiliations

Pathological and virological insights from an outbreak of European brown hare syndrome in the Italian hare (Lepus corsicanus)

Mariagiovanna Domanico et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

European brown hare syndrome (EBHS) is a highly contagious and fatal viral disease, mainly affecting European brown hares (Lepus europaeus). The etiological agent, EBHS virus (EBHSV), belongs to the Lagovirus genus within the Caliciviridae family. The Italian hare (Lepus corsicanus) is endemic to Central-Southern Italy and Sicily and is classified as a vulnerable species. L. corsicanus is known to be susceptible to EBHS, but virological data available is scarce due to the few cases detected so far. In this study, we describe the occurrence of EBHS in two free-ranging L. corsicanus, found dead in a protected area of Central Italy. The two hares were identified as L. corsicanus using phenotypic criteria and confirmed through mitochondrial DNA analysis. Distinctive EBHS gross lesions were observed at necropsy and confirmed by subsequent histological examination. EBHSV was detected in the livers of the two animals initially using an antigen detection ELISA, followed by an EBHSV-specific reverse transcription-PCR, thus confirming the viral infection as the probable cause of death. The EBHS viruses detected in the two hares were identical, as based on blast analysis performed for the VP60 sequences and showed 98.86% nucleotide identity and 100% amino acid identity with strain EBHSV/GER-BY/EI97.L03477/2019, isolated in Germany in 2019. Phylogenetic analysis places our virus in group B, which includes strains that emerged after the mid-1980s. This study supports previous reports of EBHS in L. corsicanus and further expands the knowledge of the pathological and virological characteristics of the etiological agent. The ability of EBHSV to cause a fatal disease in the Italian hare represents a serious threat to the conservation of this vulnerable species, especially in populations kept in enclosed protected areas.

Keywords: EBHSV; European brown hare syndrome; Italy; Lagovirus; Lepus corsicanus; hare; outbreak; virus characterization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of the Castel Porziano Estate, Rome, Italy. At the upper right corner location within Italy and location within the Latium Region are showed. Red lines represent the borders.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hare 2. Trachea. Congestion of the tracheal mucosa with multifocal hemorrhages.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Hare 2. Liver. Multiple foci of hepatocyte necrosis (asterisks). Hematoxylin and eosin stain, 20×.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Phylogenetic tree performed with ML-GTR + G + I. The sequence fragments correspond to 47 complete VP60 sequences (1731 bp) of Lagovirus retrieved from GenBank. Bootstrap values greater than 70% are shown. Taxa organization of the Lagovirus genus (Rabbit Lagovirus: GI; Hare Lagovirus: GII) is indicated as proposed by Le Pendu et al. (2017).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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